


time goes by, you'll notice

by radieoactive



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Domestic, Fanon Solangelo, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Some sort of bookstore/coffee shop/college au, solangelo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-11
Updated: 2017-08-25
Packaged: 2018-02-24 23:10:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,877
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2599958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/radieoactive/pseuds/radieoactive
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Do you like life?" Will asked, hands warm and tender as he held Nico's, though his own felt icy even still.</p><p>Nico shrugged, like he did when he didn't have a straightforward answer and said, "Sure."</p><p>[Solangelo (Fanon) -- also on Tumblr]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> After I read BoO I kinda knew a Solangelo fic was going to be in the works, and after a month I finally wrote one. Fanon!Solangelo because let's be honest I can't write the characters exactly like rick riordan can. The first chapter/preview was not beta'd! Sorry for any mistakes.
> 
> Second Chapter > beta'd by Madison, or [asexualthalia!](http://asexualthalia.tumblr.com)
> 
> Thanks for reading and enjoy.

Nico flushed.

 

He  _knew_  he should've been paying attention to his surroundings; if crime T.V. shows had taught him anything it was this, that looking ahead of you and keeping track of the things around you would keep him alive.

 

He slammed -- books and all -- into a blond stranger in front of him, making Hazel let out a tiny gasp. Oops, he thought.

 

"Sorry, sorry," said Nico with a rushed, unnatural tone. He bent to pick up his belongings, which wasn't much -- just a pen and his thankfully not cracked phone.

 

The stranger looked to his side curiously, as if he was deciding what tone to use with him. "Nah, it's fine," said a lax voice, "Um, but your pen kinda stabbed me in the back."

 

Nico noticed the stranger wasn't turning around to even look at his face, just nonchalantly leaning on the wall behind him. Hazel tugged on Nico's wimpy arm, apologizing herself, making small talk with the blond boy to lesser the chances of someone getting punched. But neither parties felt inclined to do so -- the stranger, it seemed, didn't really care.

 

Nico felt almost relieved. He waved back while walking ahead with Hazel and talked to her about what new books were out at Barnes and Nobles.

 

\----

 

"Be careful," Hazel stared at Nico, "You keep doing that thing -- that thing where you forget to be apart of the world."

 

Nico smiled, and Hazel did too, because Nico smiling was usually a rare moment -- but it wasn't, now, he was figuring out that life wasn't so bad in these past months. "Sorry,"

 

Rolling her eyes very sarcastically, Hazel picked up a magazine with a cute girl on the cover. "You know you don't have to keep apologizing so much either."

 

Nico nodded. He knew.

 

They both picked up their books and magazines and played with the electronics they always had at the front of Barnes and Nobles, and Nico suggested if Hazel wanted to find a seat in the cafe. Hazel tenderly whispered a "sure," but when they got there and saw that no seats were open, Hazel ordered two hot chocolates for her and Nico and they took the escalator up to the floor with the kid's section. Seats were always empty there. Hazel liked reading the picture books anyways.

 

The wooden bench Nico sat on felt so uncomfortable that he moved to sit criss-crossed on the floor. He flipped the pages of his chapter book -- a novel about galaxies and aliens or whatever -- and liked the feeling of the crinkled, smooth paper on his fingers, so he read and went through chapter after chapter. It wasn't a very good book, Nico had critiqued some of the lesser parts in his mind, but he felt nice while sitting on the scraggly carpet underneath him. Hazel was at peace, too, because she grabbed a pile of children's books about historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr. (she'd always loved history, she'd say it was because there was so much she felt needed to be learned) and Rosa Parks. There was also another novel that had a unicorn on the cover, pretty sparkles and rainbows and holographic material on it. Hazel loved horses.

 

"What time is it?" Nico said softly, like he didn't want to break Hazel out of her reading mode.

 

Hazel looked to him for a small second, then took a sip of her drink. She looked at the watch on her wrist, one made of gold that had a red faux-leather strap. "It's almost 8. Did you want to go?"

 

Nico didn't want to object, yet he didn't feel quite like saying yes, either, so instead he shrugged and went back to his book. He'd read through 20 chapters of aliens and witty banter, sarcastic sentences that made his head spin and scream " _hipsters!_ " He put the book to his side.

 

Scrawny limbs pushed Nico up and standing, off of the ugly, discolored carpet probably stained by kid piss way too many times. Maybe he would get another book about art or something.  _Anything_  to get the aliens off of his mind.

 

Instead, he pressed through long shelves of winding books, through the  _Love & Sex_ section which admittedly made him cackle and giggle like he was in 5th grade again. He read a few sentences off of the  _Business_  section and then went to  _Psychology_ , to which he frowned and stared at people's happy faces on self-therapy books, and finally took a look at the  _Young Adult_  section and laughed at cheesy, love-triangle-filled books by authors whom he thought were influenced too much by  _The Fault in our Stars_  -- he hated  _The Fault in our Stars_.

 

There was also a comics section, and he'd read about the X-Men and the Black Panther until his mind was numb and pictures didn't seem entertaining anymore.

 

And finally, the magazine section, filled with tabloids and papers that accused President Obama of cheating with the Queen of England. He'd read and went through magazines like it was nobody's business, and had a pile of 20 sitting next to him, and glared at people as they stared weirdly at him.

 

Two pairs of eyes caught his own again.

 

Nico waved it off -- he didn't feel like scaring somebody again, and held a two second long staring battle with the stranger, who looked similar to somebody he'd seen earlier.

 

Actually, he  _knew_  it was somebody he'd seen earlier, but hoped they didn't remember him and knew well enough not to mess with Nico's type -- the type of boy that seemed dark and brooding and would kill you not with a knife, but with his constant lectures of Green Day lyrics. Nico technically  _wasn't_  that boy anymore, but his fashion style still retained lots of black and skulls (though he'd lost his aviator jacket he'd had since he was 10.)

 

The stranger walked closer to Nico. He looked away, now, still clinging on to the hope that he'd just go away already. But instead the boy he'd crashed into earlier didn't budge, walked silently and flawlessly to Nico, holding a Starbucks bag and a black, small backpack that was hanging off of his right shoulder. He didn't speak but instead nodded, though Nico didn't ask a question.

 

"You were the guy that stabbed me in the back," said blond, tanned stranger. Nico wanted to roll his eyes but felt it was a bit too rude to, though he wasn't looking to be talked to and thought he made it pretty obvious and the stranger still did so. Nico didn't laugh or smile at the boy's words but knew that he was supposed to.

 

"Um, yeah," a strand of black hair fell on Nico's eyes, "sorry about that."

 

Nico examined the blond, twenty-something year old. He was wearing the Starbucks employee uniform, with a green baseball cap that had their logo on it. He also wore a black collared tee and some denim jeans, with bright white converse. Typical 2014 poor college student.

 

"Hey, I wanted to let you know that I really didn't feel mad--" he talked with his hands moving, like Nico did sometimes, "--so you didn't need to say sorry. Oh, was I rude when I didn't help pick up your stuff?"

 

Nodding, Nico answered yes, and sprawled out his skinny, long legs. "You should go back to work, I think they're looking for you,"

 

Blond stranger raised his eyebrow and crossed his arms in a curious way, "What?"

 

"The Starbucks downstairs," Nico rolled his eyes and the boy looked taken aback. "Are you on break?"

 

It was Nico's semi-failed attempt at getting the male to leave; he'd had enough of the chit chat and words that mean literally nothing to Nico. He wondered if the blond boy would get fired. Yelled at was a more realistic outcome, however.

 

The male laughed, heartily, shortly. "Nah, I don't actually work  _there_ \--"

 

"Then why are you in their uniform?" Nico interrupted hastily.

 

"Because I was working--" he stopped and held in a breath, eyes distant and mind hard at work thinking, "--oh, wait, I don't work  _there_. I meant I worked at a different Starbucks."

 

Nico sighed.

 

"I just got off shift. I like the Starbucks here better."

 

Nico was starting to think -- actually, he already knew -- that this boy was infuriatingly annoying. In a way Nico couldn't explain he just pissed him off, like they'd been lifelong enemies and one didn't remember. He repeated himself, said a word he'd just said a minute ago. "What?"

 

"Back where I work the baristas suck, none of them could make a frap for their lives," he answered. "Here they've got  _class_. They've looked up their recipes and can make pumpkin spice latte's all they want and not fuck up."

 

He didn't mind it that much but Nico winced a bit at the vulgar language. This boy seemed too kind to use words like fuck, but appearances never told you the real story and Nico kept his mouth in a tight line.

 

The other boy continued, "What's your name? I've been sitting here talking to you for like an hour now, and I don't know your name, I mean, I kinda wanna be able to say it,"

 

Nico looked to the pile of magazines near him and pushed them away, trying to seem like he was getting up to leave, but instead the blond male walked closer and plopped himself right between Nico and the magazines.

 

"My name's Will," he said, smile placed perfectly on his tanned face, eyebrows raised high. "I'll scoot over so you have more room."

 

Nico looked next to him -- away from Will -- and thought about just  _how_  rude it would seem if he got up and left right now. And he sighed, let out breath from his mouth and said, "Hi, I'm Nico."

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so bad with updating. Like really really bad. Anyways here's the second chapter, like 4 years later!

A week had passed before Nico even thought about venturing near that forsaken Barnes & Nobles again. He felt a little bit stupid, for letting something as trivial as a random encounter with a stranger let him affect him that much, but it did and he didn't argue with his feelings. So he left it at that.

 

Now, that was his favorite place to go on the weekends and during his free time so obviously Hazel had suspected something was going on about one-third into the week. There were no questions that came out of her mouth, none at all, because Nico was Nico and he acted a little bit funny sometimes. That was just him and she respected that. Come Friday, when Nico and Hazel would go out and grab a bite to eat along with a good book to read, she had been at the foot of his bed right after work and classes.

 

She was almost going to stutter but stopped herself from speaking. The mouth that usually flowed with happy sentences and innocent remarks was left open and silent. She just stood, quiet, a little bit scared, even. Maybe something was wrong with Nico and that's why he didn't pipe up at all about their weekly routine.

 

Curiosity got the best of Hazel and she said, “You haven't asked me to go out today. Wonder why...” A little _hmmm_ mixed with a sigh echoed out of her, and Nico put down whatever magazine he had and just looked.

 

“How can you not be tired of going to the same place again? Over and over? Every week now?” His sentence came out more tired and rude than he intended but Hazel answered anyways.

 

“I like it a lot. It's like this little place we can just read and not think about things!” Hazel's hands folded together in excitement.

 

Nico hummed, “Yes, well, we can also not think about things in the comfort of our own bedrooms,”

 

“Let's go out. I'm bored.”

 

“A walk, maybe?”

 

“A straightforward answer as to why you're avoiding the Barnes & Nobles we _both know_ you like would ---”

 

“Hazel, I'm not avoiding it. You're paranoid.”

 

She stepped back. “Oh, paranoid, is that what you're calling it? Funny. Fine, then I'll go by myself. Maybe I'll call Piper or somebody else to go with me.”

 

“Alright.”

 

Inside Nico's mind he sort of regretted his decision to not go with Hazel to the damn Barnes & Nobles. It was like he was supposed to go and he changed his fate, in the slightest. But the thought quickly passed and his mind raced to another thing. Why would he want to go and be bothered again by rude strangers? He didn't have an answer for that and instead, feeling frustrated, he returned to the magazine laying patiently in his lap.

 

Hazel waited with impatience for Nico to say something else but no words were exchanged. Nico could feel her eyes roam around him, grasping for any understanding of his thinking. His eyes glanced up once, made contact with his sister, and then looked away as fast as possible. He felt uncomfortable.

 

And he knew why.

 

Of course he had a reason for being like this. Hazel knew Nico well enough that little changes like this were out of his norm. And inside Nico knew it too.

 

It all had to do with that one stranger Nico met last week. Will. His name was so simple it didn't describe his personality at all, but it fit him. Weirdly.

 

After Will had told him his name and asked for Nico's, he continued with some pretty colorful conversation about his day and whatever book he was going to read and or buy, and about the sunset he saw the other day driving back from work, and about how this and that and that and this. 2 hours had passed but Nico felt like it had been 2 minutes, at the rate Will was practically shouting out words. Will didn't really care what people thought, Nico had saw. And then he said it out loud after Nico thought it, and Nico thought that was just the strangest coincidence ever. This guy was weird, Nico thought afterward, half expecting Will to say that out loud.

 

Life has its funny coincidences but Nico found Will's annoying. This guy was weird, and would talk for hours if you let him, which Nico _did not_ let happen under any circumstances. So after those 2 long hours had been up Nico politely asked, “Why did you sit here in the first place?”

 

And Will said, “Dunno, you looked lonely.” Then shrugged.

 

Okay, thought Nico, I guess I do but there are also other people reading with no friends here. He imitated Will and shrugged back. Will found this humorous and smiled and half-laughed.

 

Nico got up and said he had to go, which wasn't entirely true. Imitating Nico, Will did too. He bent down and grabbed a book off the floor saying something about how he wanted to buy it and started walking to the cashier line when he turned around like he had forgotten something and waved goodbye to Nico.

 

The tiniest wave was motioned back by Nico, along with a confused stare. Will left immediately after.

 

And that was it! No solid explanation why Will was like that. Why someone in their right mind would actually make friendly conversation and be social like a normal person should be. Nico found that this whole situation personally offended him. So he walked back up the escalator to the floor with the kiddy aisle and found Hazel.

 

But not a word did Nico speak about the ordeal. Nico had decided in the minute it took him walking to Hazel that it didn't matter and that he should just let it go.

 

Maybe he was being melodramatic but he thought about this situation often in the days that followed. Perhaps he would see Will again one day? Or maybe Will would forever be the random, eerily friendly stranger that took the time out of his day to make someone else's?

 

Then Nico delved into it more than he really, _really_ needed to and thought about how little things like that make life worth living. Hazel said something about a sunset she saw in a picture book, and Nico's mind suddenly came back to a familiar area: Will.

 

And then, Nico delved way more deep into it, and thought about how it was weird he even thought about this so often. A very odd feeling overtook him. Doubt, maybe, or annoyance, he couldn't tell. It was both. Doubt that this meant the start of something for Will too, annoyance at himself for thinking that.

 

Lots of thoughts were created and destroyed that entire week.

 

One day, in the middle of the week, Nico woke up and figured it all out. He admired Will for his views and philosophies that he spoke about in the bookstore and it reminded him of his sister, that's why he thought about this so often. He just couldn't place it! Will felt familiar.

 

Nico decided – if the time and place was right – he wouldn't really mind talking to Will again, he would probably like it.

 

After that he got up and brushed his teeth and ate breakfast and didn't think about Will again.

 

Until three days later, when Hazel brought it up. Then all the thoughts came flooding back again. Back to square one. The annoyance came first this time. He was tired and didn't want to talk to people right now. Besides, who even said Will would be there anyways? So he wanted not to care, but occasionally his mind crept back and he fussed about trying to stay calm and apathetic.

 

All this thinking made him feel numb so he got out of bed and watched a comedy movie and ordered pizza. Hazel was still gone and Nico whipped out his phone to text her, just to see where she was.

 

He put the phone down and continued watching. He ate, silently, huffed out what was barely a laugh at some of the jokes made in the movie and just sat. No thinking involved.

 

Then he looked to a small paper of errands sitting on his nightstand and read it. On it was listed the following: _do laundry, shop 4 groceries,_ and finally, _buy new book_.

 

The paper floated back to his nightstand and Nico rubbed his temples. Alright, so his past self was now urging him to go to that damn bookstore too? This was too much. He pushed himself out of bed and slipped on some comfy shoes, and a warm jacket. The red, bright numbers on his digital clock read 9 pm, and the bookstore would be closing in an hour.

 

He left out the door, leaving himself a mental note to text Hazel where he would be if she got back home soon. And the journey to the store began. And ended, in around 10 minutes when he pulled into the parking lot. And he got out. And he looked to the entrance, which was lit up, and he saw the security guard standing inside where the little featured books stand was.

 

Nico really wanted to get a good mystery book, like the ones Hazel had talked so fondly about sometimes. He looked down tentatively until he got inside and said hello to the security guard. Then he strolled over to the featured books and took a good, hard look. But there was none he liked at all – either he felt they were trying too hard or weren't trying hard enough.

 

Walking slowly he traveled upstairs.

 

Passing the kiddy aisle where he looked into to see if Hazel was sitting there, he went to the different sections. There were lots, lots of books to choose from, lots of lives and stories to read about.

 

Nico remembered why the bookstore was his favorite place. Because here you could pause your own life and read about somebody else's.

 

He scanned each and every aisle, each book, then started over again because gosh darn (as Hazel would say) did none of these books look good right now.

 

And when he crept around to Classic Literature, he stopped dead cold in his feet. In his mind this scenario had been created several different times. Too many to count. And here it was! This very scenario Nico had practically dreamed about. In front. Of him.

 

Will wasn't looking at anything except the colorful book he was semi-reading. Mostly, he was just thumbing the pages because they had this cool gold plating on the edges.

 

Nico thought to run, for some reason, then he thought against it. Then he kept standing still for what felt like hours until Will looked next to him, feeling like someone was staring. Will had a really good sense for that; he could tell when people were staring, it was just second nature.

 

Like a criminal caught in the middle of a crime Nico didn't know what to do so the thought of scampering away crossed his mind for like the second time and that bothered Nico. He stayed put, against his thoughts. He just didn't say hi or even do anything at all.

 

“Oh hey!” Will happily said, as if Will had just seen his buddy of seven years. It was then that Nico felt the warmth Will radiated. Gosh darn. Maybe all that thinking hadn't done Nico a damn thing.

 

Nico smiled, “Hello.”

 

“The store is gonna close soon. It sucks cause like I was gonna buy some more books to read so I wouldn't be bored this weekend. Why are you here?”

 

Truthfully, Nico didn't _really_ know. He had wanted to get something else to stuff his nose in but that was just a cover-up, he didn't have to do that. But he answered, “I was bored,” which was correct enough.

 

“Cool. I'm going on this vacation with my family this weekend. I get to take some days off work, it's great. We won't have wifi cause it's up in the mountains, sadly, so books are the next best thing.”

 

Nico thought Will wanted him to comment on this, and he obliged. “Yeah, that sounds very fun. What are you buying?”

 

“Um... I dunno,” Will chuckled, “I was gonna get some of these classics cause I haven't read all of them,”

 

Then Nico said, “Oh, I love these kinds of books. I mean, they are classics for a reason – the authors all have a great voice. My favorite is The Catcher in the Rye.”

 

“I'll get that then. I haven't read it. Sounds cool.” Will's sentences rung short as he picked out the book Nico had mentioned.

 

While Will squatted down and took out the book from the shelf, Nico fretted about what to say next. It was so funny to him how last week, this conversation would be draining for him. It was different now.

 

Will stood up afterward. “Thanks, man. I appreciate the help.”

 

Nico smiled. He didn't say anything else.

 

Personally, Will was freaking out in his mind too. He felt awkward and a bad conversation. He felt like Nico was just there because he had to be, or else he would come off as rude.

 

But then again, Will dove into things head first and continued on. He liked Nico. He thought they would be good together... not like, in a couple sense, obviously, just like, in a platonic sense. God. Even Will creeped himself out sometimes.

 

So he nonchalantly switched the conversation from books to something a little more of his liking.

 

Just then, Will spoke out one more time. “Uh, since we're very obviously soulmates because I saw you again at the same bookstore coincidentally, how about we become friends first and actually set a time to hang out? Soon? Maybe? If you're okay with that?” Immediately afterward, Will felt stupid for that first comment. _God._ He was _so_ creepy.

 

The question took Nico off guard and he felt unprepared, but he nodded without thinking. “Sure.”

 

Okay, it was kind of weird that Will would just ask to make plans so quick, especially when he really didn't even know Nico. He hadn't said his name once in this whole conversation, so Nico assumed he had forgotten his name or something and then said, “And my name is Nico, if you forgot.”

 

“I didn't forget!” Will replied eagerly. “Remembered you this whole week.”

 

Ah, so I'm not weird for thinking about our little meeting too, Nico thought.

 

Inside, Nico felt a little bit better than he did before.

 

“So, your number is?” asked Will.

 

Nico gave Will the digits in the order that created his phone number. Then they both said their goodbyes and left, and Will said he would text or call Nico whenever he was free.

 

Nico drove back home feeling strangely satisfied.

 

And so did Will.

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is so small and bad i'm sorry. ANYWAYS AT LEAST I UPDATED!!!!

The wooden door to Nico’s humble abode opened crankily. There was a split second of fear that he would be waking up a sleeping Hazel or something, so he quickly slowed down his action and shut the door as quietly as his hands could manage.

 

It was just then that Nico also remembered that Hazel hadn’t even texted him back yet – there was the full possibility that Hazel was still out with Piper or someone else. His living room looked strangely empty without Hazel. He felt weird. Still a little excited because of his chance encounter, but on edge because of Hazel. Instead of sitting down on the couch like he normally did after coming home, he whipped out his phone and went to check if Hazel ever texted him.

 

She didn’t. Nico furrowed his brows together and put his phone back in his pocket and decided to shake off the weird feeling and sit down on the couch anyways.

 

He switched the TV on, some infomercial playing on the channel. Mindlessly, he decided to watch it like he actually cared about the product for a good minute, then asked himself out loud why he would ever want a Sticky Buddy and switched it.

 

Sitting there watching old Spongebob reruns felt like an eternity.

 

Nico’s mind immediately whisked itself away into Will Land, a special place created by Nico’s brain meant to torment him with the thoughts of his… friend? Crush? Scratch out crush, Nico thought as he put his face in his hands. He didn’t know Will _that_ well yet.

 

But it sure as hell felt like he did…

 

Even though their conversation today probably didn’t last for more than 5 minutes, Nico thoroughly liked it. Like, okay, sure he kind of found Will annoying with his fast words and fast actions, but the guy was nice. And Nico appreciated that.

 

The few sentences spoken ran through Nico’s mind. He contemplated what would happen if he said this or that, or what Will would do if Nico had acted rude or something. He asked himself, what would’ve happened if I asked for his number instead of the other way around? And then Nico’s normally pale face had blood rush into it for possibly the first time in a decade and he was like, what the hell?

 

All this thinking was so very tiring so he got up and set his mind on making a light snack so that he could stop thinking. Just doing, no thinking.

 

For the smallest moment, Nico asked himself when Will would call. Or if he would ever. Maybe Nico wasn’t someone he wanted to be friends with after all.

 

After making himself a small portion of mac and cheese he continued watching Spongebob.

 

The mindless cartoons distracted him for a while as he ate his mac and cheese and was about to go to bed. The clock read 10 pm now, it had been a full hour since he left for the bookstore and came back.

 

Just then the sound of the door opening shook Nico out of his cartoon trance and to something else. Sure enough it was Hazel, and he had eagerly awaited her arrival. She walked through and into their home and Nico definitely noticed the little smile on her face and the faint blush on her cheeks, reminiscent of a schoolgirl in love. Oh, he thought. He debated if he should press the matter and then decided to for the hell of it.

 

“Hey,” he said firstly.

 

She gave him a look and proceeded to take off her Mary Janes. “Why are _you_ up this late? I thought you enjoyed your sleep when you didn’t have the graveyard shift.” She snickered to herself a little before adding in, “Literally. Because you work at a morgue—”

 

“I think I get the joke intended,” he replied matter-of-factly. She quietly huffed to herself and afterwards Nico realized it was a hushed laugh. That made him smile in return.

 

Hazel did not care to speak about why she was out so late, especially for her kind of person, and why she was in a good mood either. Okay, she was usually in a good mood, but Nico felt like it was a different kind of good. Call it sibling telepathy, if you want.

 

“So,” he said, “why are you here after hours?”

 

“I don’t really know, Nico. I got carried away while I was out I think. Piper is a lot of fun.” She responded.

 

To agree with her, he hummed out a “yes” and turned to look at her features. She was now sitting on one of the dining table chairs, a dazed expression painting her face. She didn’t say anything, Nico wasn’t even entirely sure if she was staring at him or the TV, and he didn’t ask about it. So they both went on staring, except Nico wasn’t sure if they really were.

 

Nico looked at the clock one more time and it was after 10, getting to 11. “Do you think I should go to bed now?”

 

It took her a minute to respond, but she finally answered, “If you want to.”

 

Nico took that as a definitive response and decided to go to bed, even if what she really meant was “stay up with me”. He felt tired and just wanted to crawl underneath those cotton blankets and sleep away the hours. Personally, he believed there wasn’t a lot better than sleep.

 

Nico got up and walked lazily over to Hazel, resembling a zombie raised from the dead. He didn’t kiss her forehead like he normally did but instead brushed out a strand of hair from her eyes and said good night, tenderly, so she knew he wasn’t mad or something and meant well.

 

“Good night,” she said as he walked to his room, “Love you!”

 

He whispered, “Love you too,” but he didn’t think she could hear it.

 

\--

 

It had been around 3 days (Nico told himself he wasn’t counting them, but in reality he was), since the big moment Nico had once again ran into Will in a Barnes & Nobles. And surprisingly, he had completely given up on this whole “pretend you don’t like him” thing. Nico’s head was a mess of thoughts, good, bad, and some plain evil. On one hand he cursed Will for not texting or calling him, on the other he cursed him for being so gosh darn attractive.

 

There was no room for Nico to even breathe by the 3rd day, and at 12:00 pm, on a Monday, he told himself he had given up. No more boys. It’s not like Will was _that_ great anyways. What was he thinking in the first place? Of course he wouldn’t call or text or somehow find him on Facebook—

 

And then, it _happened_.

 

Nico almost peed himself once he read the notification bright on his phone screen.

 

One word: “Hey.”

 

At first, Nico rubbed his forehead with his hand, unsure if this was a wrong number situation or something like that. Will was so outspoken in real life, this just could not be him!

 

But then Nico’s fingers found their way to the keys and he typed out another message: “Is this Will?”

 

The response came no more than 2 minutes later. “Yup”

 

Strangely the lack of a period for Will’s one word… _sentence_ made Nico annoyed. Who was this person? It certainly wasn’t Will.

 

So he texted back cautiously, “Oh. How are you?”

 

The answer came back faster than last time, “Great hbu”, and it was quickly followed by another text: “Can u call rn?”

 

Nico contemplated this for a moment. Where even was Will? Didn’t he have work or something? But then his softer side busted out and he texted back as quick as he could, “Sure.”

 

It took Will a minute or two to actually call but when it came the butterflies in Nico’s stomach could not contain themselves. His heart pounded, wondering what exactly Will even wanted.

 

“Hello?” Nico had asked when picking up.

 

“Hey man! What’s up?” Will’s voice sounded muffled, and there was some background noise, causing Nico to raise his volume on the call.

 

Nico shrugged involuntarily, even though he knew Will couldn’t see him. “Nothing really. Where are you? Your voice sounds funny.”

 

Will chuckled and then responded, “Oh, I’m in the car. Driving.”

 

“You’re driving while calling me?”

 

“No! I mean, I’m in the car, but not driving. My uh—” there was another voice, but Nico couldn’t make out what they said, “ _friend_ is driving.”

 

This time Nico clearly made out what they said: “friend? Is that what you call me? Who are you even calling, Will…”

 

It trailed off and Nico found himself listening to muffled voices, belonging to Will and this unknown person driving. Suddenly Nico found himself a little jealous.

 

“Just shut up so I can talk to—” Will’s voice came back on the line, “Hey Nico, can I call you back? Somebody’s having too much fun in the driver’s seat, _watch where you’re going_! Hahaha, stop!”

 

Nico carefully answered, “Uh, yeah...”

 

And then he heard Will laugh again, followed by another shut up, and then the call dropped.

 

There was a good part of Nico that was wholly jealous of whoever else was on the line. Then there was another part that wanted to kill them. And finally, there was the part that assumed the worst.

 

What if that was, like, Will’s _girlfriend_ or something? A boyfriend, even? A significant other?

 

Then all parts of Nico came to a final consensus. Will must be not into him like that. He probably already has somebody, the beautiful bastard.

 

Finally, one more thing came to mind.

 

Don’t fall for somebody who’s way out of your league.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha. a literal year later i update with chp 4. AN ENTIRE LITERAL YEAR. and on the same date too! aug 25!!!!! that was a complete coincidence guys.
> 
> this chap is short n sweet i hope:) you know i've found that updating a fic a year later really does change how you want the story to go in your mind. but oh well.. hopefully i'll try and be consistent... or seem like i am..
> 
> enjoy:)

The heart under Nico’s ribs incessantly thumped and he winced, just to himself, in a sort of protest against the bodily function he couldn’t control. As much as he was trying to calm himself down, a couple realizations quickly came to him: one, it was nearly impossible to pretend to yourself you were fine when you weren’t, and two, he actually felt…

 

Dare he say…

 

Jealous.

 

The thought of the word arose a curious memory in his mind. He thought back to his elementary days when life was much simpler, but the human emotions he carried were much stronger. He remembered how he got jealous when other kids would ask to play with his toys, and, forced to comply due to the teachers pressuring him to, he unwillingly lent them away. But it wasn’t without anger in which he did so.

 

Now, things have changed. Quite obviously Nico was not in the same situation. He tried telling himself he wasn’t acting just like that schoolboy he used to be, but the similarities presented themselves nicely.

 

Most of all, he tried telling himself there was no reason to be jealous. He really did know there wasn’t. Will wasn’t “his”. The idea of owning somebody was so ridiculous to Nico he got mad at himself for being jealous again, but in a different way.

 

As his thoughts stirred and Nico became less concerned with Will and more about the concept of being with somebody, and by extension the emotion of jealousy, he noticed his phone screen light up. ‘Oh great,’ Nico thought to himself. His words held a double meaning.

 

Will had texted him. “Sorry about that”, read the notification.

 

Nico didn’t really know what to say afterwards. So he just texted back, “It’s ok. Busy?”

 

A few seconds later came the response. “Haha just some trouble”

 

Now Nico knew why Hazel complained so much about how guys had texted her. It was like a guessing game. Trouble? What kind of trouble..?

 

Nico was a few moments away from just texting back, “What the fuck do you mean even”, but he refrained himself.

 

Instead he said, “Oh sorry, let’s just talk later. Is that okay?”

 

Will responded, “No!! Want to speak with you”

 

Nico smiled a little.

 

Then Will texted again right afterwards, “Hold on a sec need to call somebody”

 

Nico waited. It was minutes before any response from Will came again, and Nico didn’t want to text back until Will said he wasn’t busy anymore. In the meantime he thought about telling Hazel about this whole thing. Nico was practically clueless when it came to… well… anything involving something like this actually. It wasn’t like he’d never talked to a boy before. A boy who was cute, specifically. But the difference was the way he felt about it.

 

Inside, Nico knew that he would very much like to get to know Will better. The problem was how to express that, and how to not act like he didn’t care, because something he really did not want to do to Will was drive him away.

 

Nico’s phone vibrated and he saw that Will was calling him again. This time he picked the phone up, but with less weight on his shoulders.

 

“Hey dude,” Will said. “Sorry about the cryptic messages. And that weird phone call. My little brother was just being stupid--”

 

Will’s voice cut off.

 

‘Little brother,’ Nico thought. ‘Crisis averted.’

 

“...away! Sorry, sorry, oh my god my brother is so annoying. Sorry. Things are so hectic right now. I just got a call from my dad. He says he’s busy with work and told us he’s not even coming. It’s fucked up, but whatever man.. So I guess we’re gonna head back. Wow. And we were waiting for him for like a day or two. So fucked up.” Will sounded a little angry, but Nico was not about to comment on that at all.

 

After Will was done, and Nico had thought about what to say, he responded with, “So you’re going to come back soon?”

 

Will let out a huff of air. “Yea. It’s fucked up.”

 

So fucked up, Nico thought.

 

“I’m sorry,” Nico calmly said. He didn’t know Will’s father well enough at all to say anything about it so he didn’t.

 

“No, its fine,” Will’s voice went back to his regular tone and nuance. “Since I’m like coming back now, maybe we could meet up today? We’re already on our way back?”

 

For the second time today, Nico smiled to himself. “Yes, but do you really want to?”

 

“What? Why would I not? I think you’re cool, dude! I’m fine. It’s just my dad being my dad. I don’t really mind after all that he’s… Yea. I just don’t mind. Let’s meet up when I get back. It really won’t take that long anyways. Maybe like two or three hours. Not long.”

 

“Okay!” Nico tried not to sound like a little kid who just got a new toy, but his voice wouldn’t comply all the way. “Just, um, call me when you get back. Have a safe trip.”

 

It was almost like he could feel the sunshine from Will’s smile through the phone. “Yea, man. I’ll call you right when I get back. See you soon, alright?”

 

“Yea,” Nico responded. Nico was really smiling now.

 

It was strange to Nico how he felt about Will. Will was just so happy and nice. And Nico knew he needed some of that in his life.

 

Of course Hazel was also a big source of happiness, but Nico knew that he couldn’t go his whole life only communicating with his sister. It was hard enough being introverted like he already was, and having little to no other close friends put a damper on things as well.

 

Sure, Will was cute and nice, and just so happy, it seemed, but Nico wanted to get to know him more than what his appearance proposed. He wanted to become friends with him. You know. Go through the whole six yards. Inside jokes, hanging out on the weekends, having somebody there for you.

 

It was like a platonic crush, Nico thought. Or just maybe a crush in general.

 

Then Nico stopped himself. He admitted that barely meeting somebody for two times and talking to them on the phone for about one and a half times did not really give him grounds to truly like somebody.

 

But Nico also admitted to himself there was nothing wrong with trying to get to know him, and possibly developing something real.

 

The thought comforted and scared him all the same.

 


End file.
